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Tag Archives: Deciem

As you know Deciem is a brand that I have followed passionately from the very beginning. It was a roller coaster ride and so exciting to see what would happen next.

Unfortunately that roller coaster ride has taken a huge nosedive and a turn for the worse (personally speaking) . There are whispers everywhere of Brandon verbally insulting staff and calling them names (allegedly).

ThenNicola Kilner/Reddinton JOINT CEO got fired for what seems to be very little. Questioning Brandon’s behavior when he went off the rails somewhat on Instagram, making big decisions on his own without consulting anyone else in the company. Not really how a company works or how to run it. Is that not what people do when you are not being yourself, question you? (for your own sake)

Somewhere after Estee Lauder bought into the company it would seem Brandon has taken issue with having to answer for any of his actions and I still feel it is like a major tantrum and chucking his toys out of the pram. Unfortunately it seems he has hurt a lot of people. People who sang his praise’s and supported him 100% are now leaving his side because he seems to be treating them appallingly.

Victoria Health whom I love is the latest to leave Brandon’s ship. Gill sang about Brandon and his products from the hill tops, she was passionate about it all and we all loved it. We loved the wait-lists and everything about the 2 companies, they went hand in hand really.

Then when the weekly round up emails stopped I really sensed something was wrong and the wind was taken out of Gill’s sails and I mean badly taken out. So much so she stopped those emails.

Today Victoria Health have released this statement:

VH Update – DECIEM

I apologise in advance for sending this email to our entire database, but several thousand of you are on wait lists for products from NIOD, The Ordinary and some of the other DECIEM brands, which is incredibly stressful for each of us as these wait lists go back several months.

I do not wish to extrapolate any further than to say that we will no longer be stocking any of the DECIEM products. If you are on a wait list then we will cancel your order with immediate effect, but please rest assured that we have not debited any monies from your account, which is in line with company policy of only debiting your account once the product has been processed and sent. We will sell through the products that are currently in stock.

At this point I will just say that I am so very sorry for any inconvenience caused.

My heartfelt thanks to those of you who have supported us and been on this journey for three years.

I would also like to thank some very special people around me who gave their all, not least the VH team.

With love

Gill Sinclair
Victoria Health

Now I know for sure that separation did not come easily for Gill, sometimes you can just really sense things aren’t right. I have to wonder who will be next to fall…

Something is fundamentally wrong within Deciem and I only hope someone stops it before it gets destroyed by ego and foolish actions. Who is left to help run an empire?
No man is an island in my book and neither is Brandon!

I am sure like me a lot of you have been watching the brand Deciem and its founder Brandon Truaxe start to unravel at the seams. It has been a roller coaster ride from the start with lots of heart stopping thrills and turns.

I have used the brand since it first started 4 years ago and then starting off it had a real cult following. Its buyers were very loyal to the brand and the products. Something I too enjoyed immensely, it was fresh, new, exciting and the products were really good.

From there on the company grew like wildfire, Victoria Health was one of the first to stock this brand and the many products born from the Deciem umbrella – Niod, The Ordinary, Stemm, Hyalmide, Fountain the list goes on ..

Massive wait lists ensued as they moved premises about 3 times as they expanded so rapidly they found it impossible to keep up with demand. Then came the investment with Estee Lauder, a well timed investment that would allow Deciem to build the factories they needed to allow them to mass produce and keep up with supply. They started opening their own shops and moving into America a dream Brandon had always wanted.

But now with such rapid expansion and I mean incredibly rapid success brings its own headaches. Planning ahead, more new launches the company didn’t stop to catch its own breath and they had and still have a wildly galloping horse on their hands! Staff training was something Lauder would help them with immensely I think.

When you create a brand and make it as complicated as Niod it takes time for people to understand them. So when they opened their shops it was dam near impossible to teach their staff straight away. So in a way the knowledge came back and somewhat bit them on the ass.

Might have been ok if they had stopped there and fixed things, put back new launches, got the right training in to staff and waited till they were in their new factory. But no .. someone was on a quest to dominate the US and leaving in their wake a trail of errors that would in my opinion weaken any company.

On they went .. when I say ‘they’ I will say Brandon, Nicola was a joint CEO but the mastermind behind the social media and most of the expansion seemed to be Brandon’s workings, it would seem something he has done a bit too well, while Nicola took to sales, Qvc all over the world,other shopping channels opening shops. Nicola was the beautiful face of the brand, she did her job with passion and love, she loved every single minute, you never saw her not smiling or unwilling to have time for customers, guiding them when needed. I know this because I saw it often in my small Beauty Group on facebook.

Now there are some bad reviews about working for the company and that Brandon personally insulted and abused some of his staff, I can believe this as the pressure on him must have been immense, so much pressure .. stress and pressure can do strange things to people and to peoples heads!

Brandon has done some strange things on Instagram like running his company publicly, making executive decisions with no consultation from his joint CEO or Lauder. So while Brandon’s head is trailing ahead it is leaving behind a weak infrastructure and so many unfixed errors that could implode like a house of cards and it seems a lot of that is happening right now.

Sadly Brandon has fired Nicola, leaving her heartbroken, he continues to carry on in his ‘godlike’ path, insult people and basically acting like a child who is throwing his toys out of his pram. He has turned into a bit of a mega controlling internet whizz who controls the press very well.

Meantime claiming to love everyone on social media and and preach to the masses about love meanwhile cutting out those who cared enough to question him or tell him the truth. It seems Brandon has issues with control and nobody dare question him. That’s alright is you are the sole owner but not so good when other people are working themselves silly for you and the company and you fire them.
There are those who are happy to follow blindly & happily and that is cool but I think this is where I get off the bus at.

Being abusive to female staff, any staff really, calling them names, firing Nicola and being arrogant and rude to people on social media is not good enough really. Will Deciem continue .. probably , you may see lots of the bigger companies pulling out now, even Lauder could pull out, this is not over yet by a long shot .. but for me my journey with Deciem and Niod in particular will end here.

No man is an island and all of this will catch up with Brandon of he doesn’t take care of his best staff and fix the errors that need fixed or the little things will become the big things that can make or break you …Beauty doesn’t rinse off and errors don’t fix themselves ..

Well it has finally happened!! Deciem are doing their first ever TSV on QVC on the 23rd of January (pre-sale at 10am) .. Yikes! So they are calling this a beauty box and it show cases some of their best products across the vast umbrella of products that they now do.

So whats in the box you say!

Well the first product is the AHA30% & BHA2% Peeling solution 30ml. Oh this is the most fabulous beetroot red shade, definitely very unique and it is a really good product for exfoliating the skin and it is also really good for clearing out and dissolving the dirt in pores too. I have found this mask leaves my skin incredibly smooth, brightened and conditioned. It is different to anything else I have used due to the colour but that is a part of the fun of the mask, skincare should be fun at times.. Grab a glass of vino and go for it .. your skin will thank you in the morning!(even if your head is sore).

Next up is NIOD MMHC2 – Multi-Molecular Hyaluronic Complex 2, 30ml, this is the updated version of MMHC and it has 15 different Hyaluronic compounds, precursors all in a highly charged peptide delivery system.
This product hydrates the skin on a multi dimensional level – in other words it doesn’t just hydrate the top layer of skin it goes down & hydrates the skin on many different levels and layers plumping it up and keeping it hydrated all day. I have been using this since it came out.
I was caught in the stampede and I didn’t care I wanted some!
I am waiting on the CIAS 2 as well…
Particularly good if you are stuck on the North West Coast of Ireland and it is baltic and the heating is on full blast, a product as good as this is a must!

The Chemistry Brand Hand Chemistry – Hand Cream this is skincare usually reserved for your face in a hand cream. It is completely anti-ageing and the results are fantastic! If your hands are dry and you can see them starting to age.. get this on and put some gloves on top at night and you will have hands that look 10 years younger by the morning, brighter, more youthful and silky soft .. Oh yes please!

Hylamide HA BLUR – Oh wow! I have just tried this product and I am amazed at how my face looks and feels, it looks younger, smoother and velvety smooth. I tried some on my hand too to really see if I could see what it does and I can! Results are immediate and my hand looks smoother and younger. No wonder this has won awards it is a really remarkable product .. why did I not pick up on this before? I have a new love for sure .I do know of others in my beauty group who have tried this and swear by it but I had never gotten round to trying it as well .. so many products Deciem now sells!
Ha Blur is a prismatic blurring surface finisher, you can use it under your makeup as a primer, mix it in with your foundation to give flawless finishes. and you can also take a little and tap it on gently to areas of concern that you want to Blur like your number 11’s, corners of mouth and really you just dab a very small amount where you need it. You can also just wear it on bare skin to give you a ‘softer focus’ complexion.
It also has Hyaluronic Acid in to keep skin glowing, the results are truly amazing.

Last up but by no means least is Multi-Molecular Hyaluronic Acid from the Fountain range , 240ml – I LOVE these vitamin drink suppliments and I have 3 on the go right now including this one (God bless Black Friday lol) Again this is an award winning product it tastes lightly of ginger and it is packed full of Hyaluronic acid. 2 teaspoons a day in juice or water ect .. i just take mine off the spoon and have a glass of water after. I really do feel my skin is in better condition all over for taking this.
What I love about this is it not only benefits your skin but your whole well being, joints, bones, skin the lot so I love that is is multi purpose and vegan.

All of Deciem’s products are cruelty free & lots of them are vegan,some are organic, they are carving their own path in the beauty world and are not afraid if they don’t like something not to do it.
Their aim is to bring the consumer the best and most innovative products that they can, I like clean beauty but I also like some good science behind a product too and Deciem offers me this by the bag full.

This is a fabulous TSV the value combined of products is £110 and on the 27th of January it will be just £39.96 which is exceptional value!
I will put the link here when it goes live and that’s it for now ..Deciem 5 Piece Hero’s Collection!

Niod launches it’s second tsv on Qvc from midnight the 19th of July. This company just goes from strength to strength bringing us exciting new products and launches and I just love watching it grow as I feel we really needed something different in the skincare world and they have done just that.

I also like that they will never put in any ingredients that don’t need to be there like fillers, petrochemicals, fragrances ect. Just what needs to be in there to make a change on your skin. They don’t treat specific skin types …they treat skin to give you the best possible skin that you can have!

So onto the products!

NIOD Copper Amino Isolate Serum 15ml – CIAS- This is a real staple in my skincare this works on skin health, you use this first on your skin and it works on repairing the skin from ageing, fine lines wrinkles, skin tone, it works to make your skin the best skin it can be. It is a staple in my skincare.

You use CIAS morning and evening and it goes on before anything else on naked skin, wait 30 seconds and then continue onto MMHC2

Next is a new product it is the Multi-Molecular Hyaluronic Acid 2 15 ml – So this product has recently been upgraded by NIOD (they will always give you the best product that they can). It contains 15 different forms of hyaluronic acid in different weights and forms to tackle skin hydration on all different layers of the skin.

I have been using MMHC2 this since it came out and I find it lighter, smoother, silkier and less tacky on my skin. Worth mentioning here all forms of HA are somewhat tacky. This is the big long drink of hydration my thirsty skin needs, love it!

NIOD Mastic Must 90ml – I think one of the most important things I have learnt since I started my Niod journey is environmental factors and the effects they have on skin. We don’t think when we are out and about about the pollutants hitting our skin on a daily basis but they do and they really irritate our skin so good face masks are an essential.

Plus as we age our pores get bigger . sad but true! Mastic Must clears out skin and pores .. it really gets down and into the dirt and pollution that has been sitting on our skin for years and gives you super clean skin and clean pores .. a clean pore is a smaller pore!! So the cleaner you work to keep them the smaller they will be.

This is best used in the morning or just before a big night out to give you really smooth, glowing skin and your pores all minimised to greatest effect.

Finally there is the NIOD Photography Fluid Opacity 12% – Known on Instagram as Selfie Serum and rightly so as it pixelates and blurs imperfections on your skin. If you log on and watch the demo on QVC for it you can see as Nicola spreads it out on her hand how that really works and bounces the light back off your face making you look your very best. I do love this product and you only need one drop into your primer or moisturiser to blur fine lines and imperfections, A lady should never go anywhere without it, even with no make up on this will make your skin look better.

So that is it folks .. another exciting NIOD tsv .. oh and the price, well if you were to buy individually they would cost £110 for one day on the 19th of July you can pick up these products for an amazing £40!

This link will go live at 10 am 16h of July and you can purchase your TSV from here NIOD TSV

Just to add I already own all of the products in this tsv and I have reviewed them from long term use. Oh and the Founder Brandon will be there live on Q too .. sooo excited to hear his thought processes behind his products!!

I have this past month been using the Stemm hair range for blonde hair. I have tried a lot of expensive hair care this last 30 years or so and had pretty much given up on finding anything that would make my very fine curly hair volume and life.

It had gotten to the stage where a ponytail was pretty much as far as I got with it because to try and nourish the curls and the fact I had it coloured it pretty much just went lank and lifeless and had started to look extremely thin and I hated it.

So I started using Stemm as it claims to help with hair loss. lack of volume, condition. I warn you now these are hair treatments that really get down and tackle hair issues. They smell very different to what you may be used to but they have worked for me where I thought nothing would work and that overrides everything, plus it is important to know the smell of the ingredients does not linger on your hair in any way.

There is so much science behind these products is is impossible for me to cover it all. But I can tell you what they have done for me and I can back it up with a couple of pictures.

So the first product is Stemm Density Stimuli a powerful hair serum that you massage into your scalp every evening. It combines vitamins, minerals, amino acids, peptides, polyphenols and other vitamins to help hair regain its thickest, fullest & strongest look.

This is to give your hair follicles everything it needs to produce strong healthy hair!

I have found this is pretty much absorbed by morning. I do not wash my hair every day so I tend to use this every other evening. (plus the ocd part of me is trying to make the bottle last along with the shampoo and conditioner) You only need a little and you massage it in.

High Amino Shampoo is a concentrated product to gently cleanse the hair and scalp without damaging it, it works by supplementing the hair with the natural amino acids and nutrients our hair needs to keep it healthy, full glossy, soft & shiny.

All these products are sulphate free and the shampoo tho it cleanses the hair well it doesn’t foam up a lot . It doesn’t smell of flowers and exotic places either but I don’t really care about that and for very good reason I will get to soon …

Gold Fulvic Conditioner – for Blonde Hair is a rinse off conditioner with no build up on the hair associated with other hair conditioners. It will never give you lank hair! Lank hair is the bane of my life with curls .. you have to condition them and this pulls the curl down leaving it very lank.

So while the serum and shampoo both work on the scalp, getting it healthy and keeping it healthy and cleansing. The Fulvic conditioner, it specifically targets the damaged parts of our hair. The over heat treated/coloured/weak hair shaft. It works on fine flyaway hair and damaged hair. It restores strength and volume.

Now having most of the hair problems that have been mentioned above I cannot believe the change in my hair!! They call this skincare for hair .. well I can only agree fully as I feel like it has taken 30 years off and given me the hair I had in my 20’s and that is really saying something.

My hair much stronger my hair is, the shine it has, the volume and the LIFE,vitality, softness and shine this has given my hair. It looks and feels fully restored back to a former crowning glory I thought I would never see again.

Ok so it smells of the natural and some organic ingredients in the bottle but it is oh so worth it but there is no sulphates or parabens in here of fake perfumes and it is a complete hair treatment system and it is the first one I have tried that has ever lived up to what it promises. This is my hair before and then after I have been using Stemm for over a month.

Before as you can see my hair is super fine and breaks very easily & limp. Below are the after pictures where you can visibly see how much stronger my hair is and how much vitality and shine has been restored!

I cannot recommend these enough to anyone with blonde coloured hair that needs strengthened and the health and vitality but back into their hair. There is also a set for darker head of hair as well.

The only place I can see this trio set available at the moment is QVC and it is the best value to buy them all together Stemm on Qvc

I can honestly say these products have totally surprised me and blown me away. I am still in awe every time I look at my hair … amazing!

Have you tried Stemm yet? If you suffer from low hair self esteem and your hair has lost its former glory, then like me then you need to try these ..

As I get older, not only does my skin and face age, but I have really noticed that my hair has thinned, gotten a LOT finer, my curls have flopped and basically it looks and feels pretty lifeless and sad.

Anyone who knows me, knows I have spent quite a bit of money on high-end brands, to try to treat the lack of life, volume and body in my hair. But buying expensive shampoos and conditioners was quite frankly a waste of money; they might have smelled fantastic, but they weren’t hitting the mark really.

Hello Stemm!!

Deciem has recently released a set of 3 products, to treat all aspects of hair ageing, cleansing and conditioning. All without parabens and sulphates, to really tackle volume, hair loss, ageing and condition, from the scalp to the hair end!

There is a set for blonde hair & a set for darker haired beauties! I think the Stemm Density Stimuli deserves it’s very own post, because it treats the scalp and the hair follicle (root). So right from the first use, you are giving your hair the very best chance to be healthy as it grows.

Our hair, once it leaves the follicle, is dead, so it makes such good sense and it is vital to treat and keep those precious follicles healthy. In turn, we are giving hair a better chance to grow well, be stronger and healthy and restore vitality. It is pure anti ageing for anyone who suffers from fine, poor, damaged, or mature hair, that has lost its lustre.

Packed full of amino acids, green tea, caffeine, black vulvic acid, zinc, hyaluronic acid, magnesium, copper and so many other incredible ingredients, to give you the best hair growth and life to your hair you can possibly have.

The reason I am singing the praises of this product so much, is because of the results I have had personally from the products. I am 47 and my hair had lost all of its life due to health, medications, anemia and age.

As someone who loves skincare, I never connected the dots, to apply the same care to my hair as I did to my face….until now .. and it makes perfect sense and I am now reaping the rewards and results.

There is a gentle hair cleanser and a very clever conditioner that treats the damage on the actual hair shaft and really strengthens the lengths, which I also know has helped my hair incredibly and I do not say that lightly.

I really loved this treatment for the scalp, applied in a very small amount at night, no need to overload, you just need to massage it lightly over your scalp at night and let the follicles soak it up.

If you are going to spend a lot money to tackle ageing on your hair, it is crucial to get the very first step right I think; and this has improved even the lift, body and volume on the roots of my hair so much … I think anyone with thin, weak hair has nothing to lose by trying this.

It is a treatment at last, that in a 3 step process, tackles all aspects of my hair ageing and damage. I would say it has taken about 20 years off how my hair looks, feels and reacts and it is soo much stronger; no more stretching and snapping.

The set I have is the trio for blonde hair and the only place right now you can get the set is from QVC and it is much better value than buying individually. You can find the set here: Stemm 3 Step Hair Thickening Collection .

I will follow up with the shampoo and conditioner in another post (and get a trim lol)